BOUNTIFUL, Utah — On July 8, 1944, Lieutenant George F. Wilson Jr was flying in a B-17G "Flying Fortress" bomber when a hail of antiaircraft fire struck the aircraft, killing the pilot and sending it crashing into France.
For more than 80 years, the Bountiful resident's family was left with questions as to what happened to their relative. That is, until November 2024, when the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency told them that George had been found.
Starting in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater. At the time, they received information from several of Wilson's crew members detailing the crash, but there is no evidence that the crash site was ever visited. In 1951, George Wilson Jr was declared non-recoverable.
However, a family member in July of 2018 provided DPAA with new information about a potential crash site for Wilson's aircraft. One of his family members also traveled to the region of France where his plane had crashed and met with three witnesses who remembered the crash.
A year later, a DPAA investigation team discovered a concentration of wreckage consistent with a B-17 and began excavation.
From August 6 to August 30 in 2021, Colorado State University officials, in partnership with DPAA, excavated the site and recovered evidence for the DPAA laboratory. The team would return for another few weeks in 2022 to find additional evidence.
One important piece of their investigation, the remains of George Wilson Jr. Once his remains were brought to the DPAA, they, in coordination with the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, used DNA testing to confirm that they were those of Wilson.
Wilson's body was returned to his family in Bountiful. He will be buried there in July.
George Wilson Jr's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in France. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
